Dog Fight by Michael J Malone @michaeljmalone1 #BlogTour @SarabandBooks

Kenny O Neill, a villain with a conscience, returns in a hard-hitting thriller of exploitation, corruption and criminal gangs.

When Kenny s cousin, Ian, comes to the aid of a fellow ex-squaddie in a heap of trouble, he gets caught up in the vicious underground fight scene, where callous criminals prey on the vulnerable, damaged and homeless. With Ian in too deep to escape, Kenny has no option other than to infiltrate the gang for the sake of his family. 

Kenny is an experienced MMA fighter, as tough as they come, but has he found himself in the one fight he can never win?

Dog Fight by Michael J Malone was published by Contraband, the crime fiction imprint from Saraband Books in paperback on 6 April 2017 and is the second in the Kenny O'Neill series.

I'm thrilled to host the Blog Tour for Dog Fight here on Random Things today. This is my first meeting with Kenny O'Neill who was first introduced to readers in Beyond The Rage, published in 2015. However, the fact that this is number two in a series made no difference at all to my enjoyment of the book. Michael J Malone gives plenty of background information, and Dog Fight is a great standalone read.

Welcome to the dark, rough, gritty underworld of street-fighting in Glasgow. Prepare yourself for some violent action, some dangerous characters and some no-nonsense language, this really is a roller-coaster of a ride. Fast paced and thrilling, it's a study of the underworld, of dirty fighting, but also deals intelligently with issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Kenny O'Neill is a criminal, with a good side. He has a conscious, and despite his own illegal activities he is determined to get the better of the gangs who are currently preying on the most vulnerable men who live on the streets of the city. When he finds that his own cousin, Ian is caught up in the fighting world, he knows that he cannot stand by and let this happen. He's tough, but he may not be quite tough enough to deal with these guys.

Michael Malone has created some incredibly fascinating characters in Dog Fight, there are the downright evil, those who would sell their Granny for a bottle of cheap wine and ten fags. Those who would stab even their closest associates in the back and those who consider violence to be just a way of life. He's also extremely good at digging deep into the emotional stuff and there are some pretty heart-breaking scenes in there too, involving some very well rounded characters, with heart. Hard as nails, yes, but there are hearts in there.

Nail biting, powerful, racy stuff. This is a book that can easily be read in a couple of heart-pounding sittings. Grit, grime and glory. Dog Fight has it all. Fans of hard-boiled crime thrillers will love this!

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review and invited me to take part in the blog tour.

Michael Malone was born and brought up in the heart of Burns' country, just a stone's throw from the great man's cottage in Ayr. Well, a stone thrown by a catapult, maybe.

He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. His career as a poet has also included a (very) brief stint as the Poet-In-Residence for an adult gift shop. Don't ask.

BLOOD TEARS, his debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize (judge:Alex Gray) from the Scottish Association of Writers and when it was published he added a "J" to his name to differentiate it from the work of his talented U.S. namesake.

He is a regular reviewer for the hugely popular crime fiction website www.crimesquad.com 
Find out more at www.mjm-ink.com

He can be found on twitter - @michaelJmalone1

Contraband - the crime fiction imprint from Saraband - publishes an eclectic range of crime, mystery, noir and thriller writing, from dark literary titles to pacy detective novels.
Contraband books have proved to be incredibly popular with critics and readers alike since the imprint was launched in 2014.
Graeme Macrea Burnet's His Bloody Project was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and won the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award, and two further books were shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year (in 2014 and 2015 respectively): Falling Fast by Neil Broadfoot and DM for Murder by Matt Bendoris.
Several of these titles have already been translated into a number of different languages.
Saraband was the inaugral Saltire Society Publisher of the Year in 2013, and was also shortlisted in 2015 and 2016, as well as being shortlisted for the Independent Publishers' Guild Trade Publisher of the Year award for 2016.